What a Stupid Prom Led To
by Bored Outta My Mind
Summary: Zel is a vampire, he accidentally befriends Lina, who doesn't know, and if he has anything to do with it, never will. But of course she finds out. But how? Dun dun dun. Yeah, suck with summaries, so just read it. Can't think of a better title. Meh
1. The Start of the Stupid Prom

Please let me know if anything sucks too much. And I'm sorry for Gourry lovers, but he's the bad guy. I like him too, but he just fit in the part I wanted him to play. And after reading this, I realized this really has nothing to do with Slayers at all, I don't even think it's in character all that well. But oh well, read and see if you like it.

I sat in a dark corner as I always did when I was alone, feeling rather stupid and awkward in the uncomfortable tux I was wearing. Of course, every guy in the building (excluding the ever-so-important janitors still there) was wearing a suit or tux, but I still felt way out of place here. And I can tell you it wasn't just my strange, longish, wildly tousled, naturally lavender hair. You see I, Zelgadiss Greywords, am…Wait, Lina's here. Finally.

I had to bite back a growl at seeing Lina here at the prom with another guy. Oh, but it wasn't just any other guy either. It was Gourry. Yes, that's right, **_the_** Gourry. The one that has girls falling head over heels in love with him at first sight but was too stupid and dense to even notice. But not only was he known for his looks and stupidity, he also had a reputation of being a player. He didn't even seem to be aware that he was, but it was true. I suppose this is because his idiocy causes him to have a short attention span and he seems to get bored rather easily.

Lina, for some reason or another that I couldn't possibly fathom, has been going out with this simpleton for about a month now, which is quite a while for both of him. Gourry, you already know why, but for Lina, it was because she never quite found what she was looking for in her guys. I don't have a clue why she's been going out with that doofus for so long, she never would tell me what it was she was looking for. I do know that she likes having long, intelligent conversations, and I'm sure she doesn't get those with **_him_**. But Lina **_does_** have a thing for prettiness, and Gourry was…er…pretty/handsome. He had long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, tall, muscular build, and was 2 years older. He was your perfect image of preppy, popular, pretty-boy perfection. Blech. I didn't think that was Lina's style, but I guess I was wrong. But there was something…I don't know…strange, not natural about Gourry. Well, I can't really say that in my predicament, but hey, it was true.

I had warned Lina about this guy, but of course, she was stubborn and adamant and wouldn't listen to me. I grumbled. "I wish at least **_she_** of all people would listen to me. I'm not wrong about things like this."

But all of these things were completely wiped from my brain as I saw Lina's long coat being pulled off (by Gourry's disgusting hands, but oh well). My mouth went dry as I stared, transfixed. Surprisingly, for Lina, she was wearing a relatively simple, plain dress. But it still looked elegant and beautiful on her. It was dark, blood red at the top and faded lighter as it went down, becoming pinkish at the bottom, at her ankles. It had thin spaghetti straps hanging off her narrow shoulders and as she turned around, I noticed the back was just straps criss-crossing across her peaches-and-cream skin until her waist. Her fiery red hair was tamed and pulled into an elegant, complicated-looking twist with a few pieces falling to frame her heart-shaped face. Her cheeks were rosy and she had a huge smile on her face.

I snapped out of my trancelike state when I saw her hooking arms with Gourry, leaning against him affectionately. And the oaf didn't even acknowledge she was there, instead opting to stare at someone else. Oh, the nerve of him!

I was perfectly ready to rush over there and strangle him, taking pleasure in watching his face turn blue as the life slowly ebbed from him. Yes, I know, it sounds cruel, but oh well. The only thing stopping me from actually doing that was the one thing that made me want to do it in the first place: Lina.

Ugh! This was horrible! I'd gone against one of my most firm, important rules: Never get too involved with or attached to humans, especially ones of the opposite sex.

Oh yes, I forgot. Some of you may be confused right now since I didn't finish my sentence earlier. You see, I, Zelgadiss Greywords am a vampire. Yeah, yeah, I know, 'vampires are just myths, they're not real.' Well I'd like to see you say that after becoming one, because I thought exactly the same thing. Anyway, don't tell anyone. I have enough trouble as it is. Oh, don't look at me like that, it's true!

Well, I had indeed gone against that rule and was very much attached to and fond of Line Inverse. She'd been the only one to bother with interacting with me when I'd first come here and she's still pretty much the only one who dare says even 3 words to me. But not only does she talk to me, she also became my friend. You may be thinking, 'Why are you so extremely unpopular and such an outcast if they don't really know what you are?' As you might know, well actually you might not know this, but all humans have at least a **_small_** bit of sixth sense and my being a vampire makes them instinctually edgy. They have a gut feeling that I'm dangerous but they don't know why, so they stay away from me. It's often said that the greatest fear is that of the unknown, so that works for my situation. And there's also the fact that I never used to talk unless absolutely necessary and I wear almost all black all the time, so that doesn't exactly scream 'Come talk to me! Come get to know me!' but that's the way I liked it. This was all before Lina came in; she was a huge exception.

flashback

__

I stood at the front of the classroom, waiting for the teacher to get on with the whole thing and introduce me to the class. My hands were stuffed in my pocket and I glared and scowled at everyone. I'd just transferred here after graduating from some other school in Austria. I couldn't very well stay there. I'd look about 18 all my life, and people were bound to get suspicious. I'd gone through this quite a few times. I find that there's really nothing better to do, so I keep going to schools. I'm not quite sure why. And for the first time in a while, I was using my real name, Zelgadiss Greywords.

Finally, the stupid female creature that was supposed to be my teacher introduced me quickly and told me to take a seat in the back by a girl she called Lina Inverse.

I shuffled over there, somehow still managing to look graceful and elegant as I always do. I plopped down into the seat beside her. She looked hard at me. She continued to do this for a few minutes. Finally, thoroughly agitated, I yelled at her, "What!"

Then she did the last thing I thought she'd do; she smiled big and held out her hand to me. "Hi there! I'm Lina Inverse."

I rolled my eyes at her and said, "So I heard," while thinking, 'Greeeeeeaaaaaat, another fake girl.'

But then I noticed something different; she wasn't the least bit scared of or unnerved by me. (I know this because I can sense these things.) I was stoically silent as she tried to get me to talk and I ignored the hand she kept offered for a while. But she didn't give up though. She continued talking, asking me questions I wasn't answering and had no intention of answering anytime soon. I didn't hear a thing that teacher said over Lina's chattering. Not that it mattered, I probably knew 3 times more about all this stuff than she did, being 693 years old and all.

It turns out I was wrong about the girl, although I hate to admit it. She wasn't fake, stupid, or especially air headed. In the little time I've been sitting next to her, I've realized she is intelligent, witty, and said what was on her mind, whether others agreed with her or not. Surprisingly, what she had to say was in fact rather interesting and I found myself actually listening to her instead of blocking her out like I usually did with humans I was forced to sit next to that insisted on talking to me.

Finally, she says exasperatedly to me, "Oh come on! Aren't you going to say **anything**?"

"What is it you expect me to say?" I asked evenly, staring at her as if she was some inferior bug.

"I'm just trying you be nice and make you a new friend of mine," she said saucily.

I raised a questioning eyebrow. "So do you try to befriend every person you see? Because I don't see any other reason you'd be trying so hard," I commented calmly. It was true though, I wasn't just being sarcastic.

"No, actually I don't. You're just one of the lucky few!" she said with a grin.

Ok, I was slightly confused. "Why? Why don't you just leave me alone and ignore me like everyone else, pretend I don't exist?" I asked coolly.

"I don't know. You're just...different, unusual. I like that, it intrigues me."

Surprise, surprise. So little miss Lina **had** noticed I wasn't human. But she wasn't scared. Weird. I turned away from her, yawning as if in boredom. "Whatever. You'd be better of leaving me alone. And so would I."

She sighed exasperatedly and gave up. Or so I thought. She wasn't even close to being truly finished trying.

The next few days, she pestered me and talked to me stubbornly, despite my attempts to keep her away.

Then one day, I was at the park, just walking slowly with my hands in m pockets, minding my own business. It was a beautiful day, (no, I'm not harmed in any way by sunlight, that's just a myth) but soon this peaceful day was rudely interrupted as Lina seemed to burst out of nowhere, running at a full out sprint. She's about 100 meters away, but I don't bother with moving to the side, figuring she'd see me and swerve around me. Yeah, well I gave her too much credit on that one; she barreled straight into me.

I heard her grunt "Ooomph!" before falling back onto her butt. Me, I didn't budge backward even a mere millimeter. If I'd been a normal human, I would have, but as you know, I'm not.

"Oww," she whined, rubbing her tender backside. She looked up expectantly after a while. I didn't understand what she was expecting of me. Finally she told me, well, more like shouted at me, "Zel, would you mind helping me up!"

Oh, **that** was what she wanted. I shrugged and held out my hand to her. She grabbed it gratefully and I hauled her up to her feet before she had the time to try to lazily push herself up. She blinked at me then grinned and squeezed my upper arm. "Wow, you're pretty strong," she said admiringly.

I just shrugged again and she removed her hand from my arm. I stood there and waited for her to continue talking like I knew she would. It would just be a waste of energy to try to walk away from her; I found that out the hard way.

But before she did, she tried to take a step toward me. Her left leg crumpled under her and I was surprised to find my own hands shoot out to grab her waist and steady her before she fell.

I held her up by the waist for a few seconds while she regained her footing, putting most of her weight on her right foot. I quickly retracted my hands from her hips. She gingerly tried putting weight on her left foot and winced.

"You're such a klutz," I told her after she convinced me to help her to hobble to a nearby bench. I sat next to her and for a while, she actually quiet, just enjoying the day and probably trying to keep her mind of the pain in her leg. I put my hands behind my head and relaxed, my expressionless mask in place as always. Of course, the silence only lasted so long before Lina opened her mouth.

"Well, since it's your fault I hurt my ankle, you owe me some talking time at my favorite coffee shop," she said with a grin and a wink.

I stared at her. She was kidding, right? Wrong. Oh boy, this is **not** a good idea.

"How about I just fix your ankle?" I tried to compromise.

"That'd be great if you could do that! But you'll still owe me that outing. Today."

Then I just flat out told her, "No, I refuse. It's not a good idea at all."

She looked confused and asked one simple question, "Why?"

It **seemed** simple, but I couldn't really answer it. What was I supposed to say, 'Because it's a vampire and it's not a good idea to associate with me'? No, I don't think so. And I'm not too fond of lying, so my lame answer ended up being, "Er..."

"Exactly. There's no reason why you shouldn't join me aside from the fact that for some reason you think you're better off alone." I snorted inwardly, 'Yeah right.' She of course took no notice and continued, "But you know, you really aren't better off alone. No one is. I don't know what led you to believe this, how you were stupid and gullible enough to actually believe that, or how you've been able to stand it for so long, but it's not true. I mean, **everyone** needs to be with other people sometimes." She sighed after finishing her little speech. You see! This is how she is. She's really good at manipulating people's minds with her words. And sometimes she'll be joking around and talking about absolutely **nothing** one second and then be serious and deep the very next. It's mind boggling sometimes.

__

I shook my head. "No, you're wrong about this one. And I'm not going anywhere with you," I said emotionlessly. I'd hoped this would get her off my back, but no such luck.

She spoke softly. "No, I'm not wrong, you are. And you can stop trying to act so mean and emotionless, you're not fooling me."

I openly stared at her in shock for a second before my usual mask slid into place.

But fortunately her deep, perceptive talk was done for now and the wheedling and pestering was back. "Now, you're going with me to this place and you're going to talk to me," she told me stubbornly. "It's the least you can do for making me hurt myself."

"No." Jeez! It wasn't even my fault! **She** was the one not paying attention.

"Zelllll!" she whined/pleaded. She always calls me Zel. I'd given up telling her not to; nicknames made it seem like we were closer than we were (which wasn't at all) and I didn't want to take any chances of becoming attached to her.

"You know I'm not going to give up. You're just prolonging the inevitable," she reminded me, smiling sweetly.

Sadly, she was right. I sighed in resignation. "Fine." Then I got up off the bench and knelt in front of her in one smooth motion.

"Um, Zel? What are you doing?"

"I'm fixing your ankle," I said simply, not looking up.

"Oh. K!" she said, shutting up and looking down at me curiously.

I took off her shoe and slid her pants leg up a little bit, putting my hands on her ankle. 'Wow, soft skin.' I pushed that thought out of my mind and rubbed and massaged her ankle a little, pretending to actually be doing something. But really I was using one of my vampiric powers to heal it. While being a vamp has its downsides, it also has quite a few pluses as well. I moved my hands around her ankle a little while longer just for show then stood up.

"All done?" I nodded. "YAY!" she yelled, jumping up without any hesitation.

I looked at her questioningly. "Weren't you worried about putting weight on your ankle so soon? What if I hadn't really fixed it, I just thought I did?"

She giggled. "You look kinda cute like that; all confused with your head cocked to the side."

I straightened up and glared at her, glad of my inability to blush.

Answering the earlier question, she shrugged and said, "I dunno, I guess I just trust you. I'm fine anyway, so there's nothing to worry about."

I shook my head at her. "It's not smart to trust people so easily Lina. Especially people like me."

She sighed exasperatedly. "Zel, what do you mean, 'people like you'? Wait. Never mind, I don't wanna hear it. And I don't normally trust people so easily. In fact, aside from you, everyone has to work pretty dang hard to earn my trust. Don't you just feel so lucky?" she said, smiling cutely at me.

I raised an eyebrow at her. This girl was just too weird. It seemed that me being a vampire had the complete opposite effect on Lina then it did on everyone else. Instead of being afraid of me, she was drawn toward me, like a moth to a flame.

"Oh well. Come on, let's get going!" she yelled, grabbing my hand and dragging me to wherever it was she was making me go. It reminded me of a child showing their mother a cool exhibit at the zoo, which made me smile slightly. Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be so bad.

End flashback

That afternoon and well into that evening, she'd somehow gotten me to open up and join in the conversation. She'd told me about some of her dreams for when she got older and about her family as well as simple things like her favorite animal and color. And I, in return, told her my deepest darkest secrets about my past and being a vampire.

Pfft! Yeah right, as if! I'm completely and totally kidding. I didn't tell her a thing about my past or being a vampire, but I did tell her some simple things she wanted to know. I was barely any more talkative then, then I was any other time.

Some of you may be thinking, "Well the way he was describing himself earlier doesn't sound anything at al like the relatively good-humored chatterbox he is now.' You can blame that on Lina. Stupid girl made me open up a little and lighten up a lot, though of course I'd never admit this to her. She also made me like her a little more every time I spent long periods of time together. Yeah, that's right, **_made_** me. We always somehow had something to talk about too. Weird…

Yeah, so we became pretty good friends and here we are now, so let's get back to what's happening now, at prom. Before I met Lina, I probably wouldn't be caught dead (excuse the pun) going to a dance, especially a huge one like this. For one thing, they just aren't my thing, and for another, I hate big crowds and lots of people. Somehow though, Lina convinced me to go. She'd pestered and badgered until I finally gave in. I don't see what the point was. She'd said I have fun, but who else would I talk and interact with, with her busy with Gourry and all? No one else had the guts or even the interest to talk to me.

So here I am, feeling like a total loser and trying to ignore Lina dancing with Gourry, laughing and having a good time with him. It's not fair; **_I_** should be the one out there, making her laugh and smile, just for me. I scowled at nothing in particular. Or maybe I was scowling at just everything.

About an hour after they'd arrived, the couple split. I don't know what Gourry was doing, but Lina was standing there, her head turning from side to side while her eyes searched. She was looking for someone, most likely me. It's about dang time. I slumped down lower in my seat. Well I wasn't about to help her out. If she really wants to see me, she'll find me eventually. Yeah, so it's rather childish, who cares?

I saw her face light up when she finally found me. She trotted over to me. "Hey Zel! Having fun?"

"Hi, and no, I'm not," I said coldly.

She sighed and plopped down next to me. "I'm sorry I didn't meet up with you earlier, I was busy with Gourry. There's no need to sulk though. Get out there and have fun!"

I sat up and stared at her, actually more like gaped at her. She just didn't get it at all, did she! I opened my mouth to tell her this, but she interrupted.

"Oh! Gourry's looking for me, I better get going. I'll talk to you later, K?" she said, already waltzing happily over to her date.

"Yeah, later," I said quietly to her back, knowing she wouldn't hear me.

I grumbled. "I look for you for an hour and you only come over here when you can fit me into your busy schedule, but when Gourry starts looking for you, you're up and out like a flash."

I still was kind of disbelieving about the fact that she hadn't asked me about what was bothering me. Normally, she picked up on when I was upset right away and pestered me about it until I told her something. And I was definitely upset right now.

I watched them continue to dance with rising jealousy and depression for another half hour before something different actually happened. Gourry was leading her outside by the hand and she willingly followed. I had a foreboding feeling about this. And it was more than just my extreme jealousy.

But it's none of my business and why should I try to help her after she ditched me? Pfft. Yeah right! There was no way I **_wasn't _**going to follow them. It wasn't that I didn't trust Lina, it was that I didn't trust the fool she was with.

I moved across the gym, my movements quick, graceful, and silent, like a stalking cat. I caught up with them as they were about to leave the room. Hundreds of years of practicing gave me some pretty cool skills and sneaking was one I was especially good at. You know, even though I'm 693, I'm still relatively young in the vampire world.

Anyway, I followed them. Gourry was taking her outside the school now. What was he planning?

I used my extremely sharp hearing (I also gained sharp sight and smell when I was turned) to listen to them from a slight distance.

But that was unnecessary; all Gourry did was lean down and plant a wet one on Lina. Ugh! Disgusting. Apparently Lina didn't exactly agree with me, because she was returning that revolting kiss.

I watched a few minutes, but they didn't do anything different. But really, this was it? Why couldn't he just do this inside! Gourry had just started making his way down Lina's neck with his mouth when I finally turned around to go away. I couldn't stand this anymore. As sappy and cliché as it might sound, my dead, unbeating heart felt like it was being shredded. It was more like from a wood shredder than a paper shredder, not that it really matters. (A/N sorry, I just had to add this. Lol. It's from a conversation between me and my stepsister the other day)

But then my senses started going berserk. I whirled back around and saw a flash of white at Lina's throat. Fangs. I'm having some trouble believing this, but I know it's true now; Gourry's a freaking vampire.


	2. Half a Fight and Tests

Well, I've got it now (obviously)! And I think this chapter is written a little better. I dunno, you tell me.

Jeez, how could I be so stupid? I should have been able to sense it; he obviously wasn't all that old and experienced, barely able to mask his aura at all. I suppose it was because I just never expected such a dimwit to be one and be able to survive in our world. But he had to be at least _slightly_ powerful to be able to hide his aura like that. I of course do the same and I'm absolutely positive I would have picked up on his aura if I'd been thinking at all. Wow, I'm getting sloppy. But anyway, none of this matters right now. What matters is that this guy is trying to bleed Lina!

I saw his fangs slide out of their sheaths in his mouth ever so slightly more, in the anticipation of warm, sweet blood. He was about to go for it. His fangs pierced her skin somewhat and Lina gasped. I knew he was about to make it pleasurable, as most of us have to power to do. Soon she'd be more than willing to give up every last drop of blood in her body.

I finally left my hiding place and tackled Gourry to the ground. I had him pinned under me and was punching the crap out of his face. I knew that once his shock receded, his regeneration would kick in pretty fast and I was just wasting my time, but man, it felt good. And I got the satisfaction of seeing his face swell and all that good stuff while he was still so surprised.

"What the **_heck_** are you doing!" Gourry yelled. He looked up at me, noticing who it was that was trying to beat him up. "You!" he spat out.

I smirked. "Yup. It's me alright." I leaned in close to him, grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him toward me even more. "And I know what you were trying to do," I whispered in his ear.

He stiffened and paused before saying cautiously. "What are you talking about?"

I rolled me eyes. "You know what I'm talking about," I knew I probably should have been acting a bit more mean and threatening to this imbecile, but I was having fun having the upper hand; it gives me a sort of rush of exhilaration to have power over another vampire. But then I thought about what would have happened to Lina if I hadn't been around. My gaze hardened and I sat up, bringing him with me roughly by the hand still at his shirt collar, my glaring face was barely inches from his. I growled at him, "You were trying to bleed Lina."

I saw a look of shock on his vampiric pale face before a cloud of mixed rage and fear passed over it. He shoved me off him and we separated before crouching warily, ready for a fight.

Unlike Gourry, whose muscles were tense, like a tightly coiled spring, I was relaxed. I fought better that way, without thinking, just letting my reflexes and instincts take over. When dealing with another vampire, unless, in rare cases, you have an extreme upper hand in the strength area, brute, mindless force usually isn't going to cut it; you also have to be smarter. Throwing random blows and expecting to come out alive, yeah, not too smart.

But it won't hurt to just see how closely matched we are in the strength department, now will it? No, of course not. Besides, it's been a while since I've had a good work out.

I finally lashed out at him, feinting left before going in for a solid right hook to the underside of his jaw. He fell for the feint, idiot, and my hit connected soundly, sending him up and spinning before crashing into the ground. I smirked.

Gourry got up slowly and looked down at his suit. Well, it was ruined, no doubt about that; it was covered in mud and grime and torn in a few places, and, God forbid...WRINKLED! His hair wasn't quite so pretty anymore either, more like completely messed up and a hindrance in fighting with it being so long. And while he couldn't see his hair, he was still plenty upset about his stupid expensive suit I ruined. He roared before finally coming at me.

I let his punch hit me, just bracing myself and doing nothing to block; I want to see how he compares. My head whipped to the side, but nothing more. Well, he was stronger than a human, but pretty puny by vampire standards.

"Well, it looks like I've got you beat in the strength department, eh Gourry?" I asked good-naturedly. His response wasn't quite as nice; he just scowled at me. I held up an index finger, indicating for him to cool it for a second. "But I've got a second test that you may be able to prove yourself with. How's your speed?"

Yeah, I know, I'm supposed to be beating the crap out of him and there's supposed to be a long, elaborate fight scene right now. Well, I'm not going that way. At least, not right this minute, I'll get there eventually though, don't worry about it. Who says I can't have fun first, before I send him running with his tail between his legs?

Grudgingly, he responded to my challenge. "What is it that you have in mind?" he asked warily.

"Oh, it's nothing much really," I started out vaguely, innocently. "I was just thinking we'd go to that flower shop about 5 miles south of here, you know where 'm talking about?" He nodded dumbly. "Yeah, anyway, grab a flower for our dear lady here and bring it back to this place. Pay for it or don't, your choice. And I'm sure you know by now how to steal stealthily?" He nodded again, this time with a rather arrogant grin.

"Ok, you're on. I'm ready for this one and I'm gonna whip your butt."

I grinned myself. What a buffoon. "Great. On 7. 1,2,3-"

He interrupted me to say, "7? Isn't it usually 3? Sometimes 5,or maybe 10?"

I glared at him and said in a defensive tone, "I like 7 better. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well, no, I guess not, but- never mind. Continue," he blabbered after scratching his head confusedly.

"Well, now that I have your permission..." I said sarcastically. "1,2,3,4,5,6...7!" I sped off and was there in 117 seconds. I didn't see Gourry anywhere, so either he was way faster than me and had already been in and out (which I very highly doubt), or he's slow and hasn't been here yet. I shrugged and went on in, looking around. I found a large, beautiful, deep crimson rose, fully bloomed. There was still no sign of the dimwit, so I didn't see any harm in actually paying for it. Besides, Lina would be furious at me if she found out I stole it. And believe me, Lina furious is not a pretty sight, even for someone like me.

I stopped for a second. Oh man, Lina. She probably thought I was a horrible freak, a murderer and was either terrified of me, hated me, or was disgusted with me. Or maybe it was all of that! Crap! This wasn't fair! I never **_asked_** to be made a vampire, I never **_asked_** to get involved with Lina. Meh. Oh well, I'll have to deal with that later. Right now I have to deal with Gourry.

I was just getting my change from the cashier when he finally stumbled in. I smiled and waved. "Why, it's so nice of you to drop in, but I'm afraid I have to go now. Ciao!" And I strolled out of there, all the while smiling sweetly.

I sped off again, although taking my time a bit, cradling the rose against my chest to keep it ruined. I reached the school, where Lina was sitting on a bench in the area we'd been in earlier.

I knelt before her and presented the rose gallantly. "For you my fair lady," I said gently, teasing. I felt uncharacteristically anxious as I waited for her response, to see if she still wanted anything to do with me.

But she smiled slightly as she took the rose from my hand, lightly brushing my fingers with her own as she did so, and my nervousness started to fade. "Why thank you my gallant knight."

Her soft smile slipped as she asked, "Zel, what's going on?"

I sighed. "I'll explain it all later. I promise. I just have to get rid of Gourry first. He should be here soon by the way."

She twirled the rose between her fingers lightly, minding the thorns. "This is absolutely gorgeous Zel." She then proceeded to give me a suspicious glare out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't steal it, did you?"

I feigned looking hurt. "Me? Steal? Oh Lina, you don't know me at all." I put the back of my hand to my forehead dramatically.

She rolled her eyes at me and shrugged. "I don't know. Just making sure. The guy I knew before probably wouldn't, but are you really him?" She said it casually, but she was looking at me intensely, searching for an answer.

I opened my mouth to answer her, but Gourry, of course, chose that moment to finally arrive. Wow, he must **_really_** be young; he still seemed to think he needed to breathe, because he sounded rather winded. Well, it **_does _**quite a long time to get used to it, and I think he'd take longer to understand things than most people anyway, so I guess I can't really take that into much consideration.

Lina and I both scowled at him and I said, "Must you ruin **_everything_**?"

He sneered at me in response. "Yeah, I do. No more of your stupid games now. I don't want to spend any more time around you than necessary."

"Oh, ouch. That's harsh buddy. But the feeling's mutual." Then I tapped my chin thoughtfully with a long, pale finger. "Well, since you put it that way though...I suppose you're right, the games will stop. I still won both of them though," I announced, sticking my tongue out at him childishly, before commanding, "Give your flower to Lina now."

He snorted and threw the flower at Lina's feet. It was a small flower, dyed bright pink. Lina glared at Gourry and ground the thing into the dirt with her foot. "Just the kind of flower I expected a typical stuck up guy like you to give. I prefer naturally pretty flowers over dyed ones. And I hate pink!" Heh, I knew all that.

I stared smugly at my opponent. "You didn't pay for that, did you?" I asked. Because if you had, you wouldn't have gotten here when you did." It was true, and I knew it.

I heard his teeth grinding as he grudgingly answered, "No, I didn't."

I grinned and said gleefully, "Oh, this is great! First your so called 'girlfriend' grinds the stupid flower you gave her into the ground and then you're forced to admit you didn't even pay for it. Bet you don't feel quite as slick as you did when this lovely evening started, huh?"

Gourry literally snarled at me. "Ok you little twit, no more of this. Let's get this done. Your ass is grass."

I shrugged casually while I reached out with my own aura to lightly touch his. I recoiled back to myself quickly. Jeez! This was unreal! His aura was huge and powerful, but worst of all, it was completely out of control. With him being as angry as he obviously was, he lost what little control he had over it. That was dangerous. He could end up killing not only me, but him as well, and Lina. I can beat him, I know, but it may be a bit difficult.


End file.
